Happy 2012 readers!  Even tho’ I can’t predict what new titles will become this year’s hot reads, I did run across a few note worthy trends that book insiders are betting on and buzzing about.

Contemporary dilemma-type titles, sequels of classic tales, YA/adult crossover titles and short story collections are just a few of the fiction trends that Bookseller editor Alice O’Keefe reflects on in Looking Ahead to 2012.  

“There’s a strong showing for unreliable narrators—always an intriguing read. Three of the best I’ve read so far are Alys, Always (W&N, February), a debut by Harriet Lane and a Barbara Vine-esque tale about a lowly newspaper sub-editor who sees an opportunity to upgrade her social circumstances. The heroine of Charlotte Hogan’s The Lifeboat(Virago, March) relays her experiences of three weeks on the open sea—was she innocent or complicit in the events which took place? And In When Nights Were Cold (Mantle, March) by Susanna Jones, a young Edwardian lady escapes her stifling upbringing to pursue her mountaineering dreams, with tragic consequences.”

Save the date! Northwest BookFest 2011 is only a few weeks away…and for the first time ever, the Eastside will host.   This year’s theme (giving us hope there will be many more years to come) is It’s Raining Books!  By the looks of the program schedule there is lots to choose from.  Readers can pick from panels of thrillers, romance, young adult, mystery, literary fiction, memoirs and even steampunk.  Would be writers and authors can listen to publishing professionals talk about book development, small press publishing, marketing, and more. The weekend festival is billed as a family event so parents, plan on stopping by before or after that soccer game.

Monday: If I were stranded alone on a deserted island with only seven books to read over the next few years, I would like to have…10/5  The SAS Survival Guide (a no brainer), The Bible (to keep my spirits up), Astronomy For Dummies (for those long starry nights), Complete World of Greek Mythology (to ponder over), Heidi (a childhood favorite), The Far Side (for some laughs), and Hatha Yoga Illustrated (for the body).

Tuesday: When I was a child, my favorite book was… 10/6  Heidi.  I loved the story of an orphaned girl being taken to her reclusive Grandfather’s hideaway in the Swiss Alps where she melts his heart and becomes best friends with Peter the goat herder only to be taken away to befriend the invalid Clara.  I also loved the movie starring Shirley Temple.

Wednesday: I’d write my autobiography, but I don’t need to, because my story has already been told in… 10/7  The Wizard of Oz. Girl from the country leaves friends and family  for travel and adventure only to discover ‘there’s no place like home’.

Thursday: I hated 10/8  American history when I had to read it in high school, but then I was introduced to author David McCullough.  Need I say more?

Friday: When I want to give someone a special gift, I give them…. 10/9  a book I think they will love.  I know I am suppose to fill the blank in with MY favorite read but I’ve learned what I love doesn’t always translate to someone else.

Not a blogger?  Another way to share your love of great books is by making a donation to the great organization First Book.  It takes only $2 to provide a needy child with a book to keep and cherish.

Let’s — once again without any real foundation — be really draconian and say that only 10 percent of those books would be in any way appealing to generalist readers of some intelligence. Let’s take 50 percent of that 10 percent, for no reason at all, just to be even meaner, and we end up with 7,500 books. That means that on average one hundred and fifty more or less worthwhile books are published every week in this country. Let’s cut that number in half, just to make the floor of our metaphorical abattoir really bloody. That makes seventy-five decent books a week. (By the way, that number is about twice the rough and generous estimate I’ve made based on actual experience.) How are seventy-five at-least-half-decent books going to receive serious and discriminating reviews in the few important places remaining for serious reviews every week? To say nothing of getting attention from prominent publicity outlets, like NPR and Charlie Rose and Jon Stewart? They’re not. They’re simply not. These statistical circumstances make publishing into a kind of grand cultural roulette, in which your chances of winning any significant pot are very, very small.

If these odds haven’t discouraged you, there are a couple of writing contests out now to help you get your novelist feet wet.   An interesting essay contest about Invisible Writing and a Short Story contest sponsored by Writer’s Digest (thank you  Grammar Girl).

“She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida the pink ones, not the white ones except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn’t wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren’t.”